Einstein/Montefiore Department of Medicine

Department Faculty

Martin I. Surks, M.D.

Professional Interests

Program Director, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Director of the Endocrinology Clinic, Montefiore Medical Center

Consultant in thyroid disease and general endocrinology

Research Mentor

Clinical Practice:

Dr. Surks restricts his consultative practice to disorders of the thyroid gland, and to other disorders of general endocrinology such as diseases of the pituitary, parathyroid glands, gonads, adrenal glands, and to metabolic bone disease.

Research Interests:

Historical Summary: Major contributions from thyroid research at Montefiore Medical Center began nearly 100 years ago with findings of Dr. David Marine, Chairman of Pathology, that deficiency of iodine was associated with development of goiter and iodine deficiency diseases that affected hundreds of millions of people around the world His studies initiated iodine supplementation to salt in the US, and elimination of this major health problem. A Medical Physics laboratory, the progenitor of Nuclear Medicine Departments, was established in 1945 and was widely known for the earliest studies of radioactive iodine use to treat hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer. From 1960 to 1976, Dr. Jack Oppenheimer published widely on thyroid hormone measurements and metabolism, discovered the nuclear receptor for thyroid hormone and studied its effects on different gene products

Most of Dr. Surks’ research has focused on thyroid physiology, pathophysiology and diseases. For the last five years, he has studied subclinical thyroid diseases, and the characterization of the reference range for serum TSH in human beings.

Surks MI: Response: to ‘Subclinical Thyroid Dysfunction: A joint statement on management from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Thyroid Association and The Endocrine Society’ THYROID, 2005,15:32-33.

Surks MI: Response: to ‘Subclinical Thyroid Dysfunction: A joint statement on management from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Thyroid Association and The Endocrine Society’ THYROID, 2005,15:32-33.

Contact

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Media Coverage

Reuters features research by Dr. Martin I. Surks and colleagues on how an underactive thyroid may hold the key to longevity.